Comics Come Out With LGBT Characters and Themes

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Comics Come Out With LGBT Characters and Themes

As Comic-Con continues, we're celebrating the growing acceptance of all sexual orientations in the world of comic books. After its first openly gay character — Kevin Keller — came out in 2010, Archie Comics has printed its first gay kiss. The smooch between Kevin and his boyfriend, Devon, angers a Riverdale mom in the comic, which, according to the issue's writer and artist Dan Parent, is a "playful poke" at the real controversy the Kevin storyline has caused with One Million Moms. The conservative group called for Toys"R"Us to take down a magazine that featured Kevin getting married, but Toys"R"Us refused.

This is the latest example of the genre's recent push to make comic strips and comic books more open to LGBT themes after being heavily censored by the Comics Code Authority until 1989 (not that the restrictions prevented everyone from writing about gay characters). The road to a lesbian Batwoman and a gay Green Lantern has been rocky, but let's see how homosexuality has been portrayed both positively and negatively in comics over the years.

Once I read a very interesting essay about how The Smurfs was a model for communist society. It had some very compelling arguments. It makes me wonder about the writers, sneaking their view points into a children's cartoon.